Why You’re Depressed and What to Do About It

There are probably more people out there in the world suffering from at least a mild case of depression than you even realize. If you take some time to look at the news you will see stories of suicide and suicide attempts, and drug overdoses, that mostly revolve around people that are depressed and just don’t know what to do with themselves any more.

Depression can be all consuming. It is painful and it hurts more than just the person suffering from the illness. It hurts all of the people in their lives, but it’s not because they are selfish. Depression is a hard thing to control.

Causes Of Depression

Depression has many faces and comes along for many reasons. Seasonal affective disorder is a common form of depression that most often happens in the winter, but can actually happen all year around. As far as winter depression goes, a lot of it is caused by the lack of sun people get while they are bundled up and spending more time indoors, out of the cold.

Marital problems, teenage angst, health issues, and loss of loved ones are all reasons some people become depressed, and when they don’t get immediate help then it can spiral into chronic deep depression. It can also spiral into substance abuse.

Depending on your age there could be numerous different things causing depression. For younger folks, bad grades, bullies in school, problems between their parents, and other issues could be at fault for causing them to feel more alone or even feel like they don’t matter to anyone. Women and men, adults, could be depressed due to relationships, illness, loss, or maybe problems at work.

For women there can be one more culprit that guys don’t get, hormones. A hormone imbalance can cause all sorts of depression issues, including postpartum. It’s definitely important to seek professional help in this case. Things like birth control and talk therapy can do wonders for hormonal based depression.

How Not To Deal With Depression

Most people respond to depression by shutting people out of their lives. That’s one of the biggest signs that someone is suffering from depression, they spend less time around others and they stop doing the things that they love. Their attitudes change, they become more quick to anger, and they may even argue more or talk less all together.

Avoiding people will not help depressions, and it will actually make it worse. The more closed off you feel the more chances you have of becoming suicidal, or even more depressed. That’s not entirely the worst of it though.

Without professional help, the options tend to revolve around abusing prescription medications, or self medicating with alcohol or street drugs. This can spiral into addiction and possible overdose or alcohol poisoning. It’s even more risky for teens self medicating for depression.

Fighting Depression

The proper way to deal with depression is to seek the help of a medical professional, first, and discuss with them the many options that are out there to help win against even the deepest form of depression. It could mean therapy, a prescription, or you could talk to your doctor about alternatives that can help you avoid the need for a prescription.

There are many medications available, some with less side effects than others. For creative folks, some of these medications can affect their creativity. One general side effect in most of these pills is sexual problems. However, it can be just as hard to be intimate when you are depressed.

The best start for depression therapy is talk therapy, and learning to do more things for yourself that you enjoy. Take up a hobby, something like yoga that helps tune your mind and body. Schedule a weekly message for some regular relaxation.

You could also try a therapy like Ketamine, which is an infusion therapy that can help with numerous ailments, like depression, anxiety, and even chronic pain. Talk to your doctor about this form of therapy, and others, like herbal therapy, acupuncture, aromatherapy, or even the idea of taking a sabbatical to get away from things while you heal.

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